Nearly two years after “urban streetwear” designer Marc Ecko signed a lease to open a flagship on 42nd Street, major construction has yet to start and the store, touted to open early this year, won’t be ready until mid-2007.

“They haven’t begun,” said Cora Cahan, president of New 42nd Street – the nonprofit set up by the Empire State Development Corp. to oversee redevelopment of historic theaters on the once-scary “Deuce” between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

Cahan said Ecko has “been paying rent from Day One.” But she said New 42nd Street, Ecko’s landlord, will meet with Ecko reps today “to clarify where they’re at, explain how they’re intending to move forward and give us a revised timetable.”

Ecko signed a lease in July 2004 for the former Times Square Theater at 217 W. 42nd St. with plans to restore its proscenium arch, domed ceiling and limestone exterior columns.

It was a big breakthrough: the theater, with 26,000 square feet and 100 feet of sidewalk frontage, had long defied efforts to find a user.

Plywood went up heralding the Marc Ecko opening in 2006. Cahan says the lease calls for Ecko to “substantially complete” restoration work by August 2007. But, “They’re not going to make that – it’s pretty self-evident by this point.”

However, Marc Ecko senior V.P. of administration Josh Rochlin says the store will be open “in time for back-to-school 2007.”

He attributes the delay to the need for the Historic Preservation Commission, which advises the ESDC, to approve each step of the restoration: “It takes us time to adjust our plans based on the need to be true to the theater’s historic elements.”

Once the restoration is complete, he said, the store can be opened relatively quickly.

Meanwhile, the plywood has begun to sprout graffiti – ironic because Ecko has long championed the notion of graffiti as “art.” Last year, he even splashed graffiti on a fake subway car for a West 22nd Street block party.

The graffiti won’t last long on 42nd Street, however: “They’re required to remove it,” Cahan said.